No, the State of Colorado isn’t blowing up grandmas for doing 10 mph under the limit in the left lane. But the state’s Department of Transportation is keeping people safe by clearing avalanches with World War II artillery.

Armed with a 105 mm howitzer — possibly an M101A1, though please feel free to correct us — the Colorado DOT clears avalanche prone areas by shooting shells up to 7 miles away into the mountain tops. Those shells have a secondary charge that explodes on impact to trigger a controlled avalanche.

According to KOB4, the howitzer, which the state leases from the U.S. Army, was recently used to clear the Red Mountain Pass in Colorado’s high country. The guns were set up on concrete pads along the pass and aimed at strategic targets in the war against insurgent snow.

Let’s hope the state doesn’t set these up at DMV offices in the off season.

Ski areas have been doing this since the return of the 10th mountain division at the end of WW2.

However since you can usually get closer to slide paths at ski areas then from a highway a fair number of resorts are now using pneumatic or LP cannons, or skiing the ridge lines with essentially grenades or satchel charges.

The Canadian military has been doing this type of avalanche control in Rogers Pass, British Columbia since it opened in 1962. The route mainly follows the old Canadian Pacific Railway grade through the pass. The railway built 2 tunnels under the pass, one in the early 1900’s and the other in the mid-1980’s.

The Washington State DOT has a two M60 tanks and a howitzer they use for avalanche control. One is stationed on Stevens pass and one on Snoqualmie pass. The one at Stevens is parked at the Wellington Trailhead. It is always amusing to take people for a hike an pull into a parking lot in the middle of the forest with a tank parked in the middle.